Challenge supports girls and women

Jenesse Center raising $100,000

The Jenesse Center is one of the organizations that will benefit from a campaign created by singer John Legend and the Burkle Global Impact Initiative in response to the Nigerian crisis. The Los Angeles-area has until Aug. 18 to meet a $100,000 challenge.

The campaign, #OperationGirl, was established to help organizations around the globe that support girls. Since 1980, Jenesse has been helping women and girls in South Los Angeles and surrounding communities escape from and overcome domestic violence. Through the group’s comprehensive, holistic service approach to domestic violence intervention, Jenesse seeks to remove every conceivable barrier to overcoming the effects of domestic abuse and breaking the cycle of violence that ensnares so many women and girls in the community.

Current programming includes emergency shelter services; a transitional living program; mental health counseling; vocational education programs and services; case management; in-house legal services; on-site childcare and children's enrichment programs, and more. Jenesse provides a nurturing and supportive environment where clients recover and become empowered to put the pieces of their lives back together.

Jenesse Center has also been trailblazing new and successful approaches to domestic violence intervention and prevention since its inception nearly 35 years ago. Early on, the organization learned that shelter alone is not enough. In order to permanently break the cycle of violence in the lives of girls and young women, they needed to address those underlying factors such as lack of educational and employment opportunities, immigration status, poor self-esteem, dysfunctional family dynamics, and generational family violence that, without redress, left women and girls vulnerable to abuse.

Jenesse discovered that by providing comprehensive programs within an environment that heals and nurtures minds and spirits broken by violence, women can overcome the effects of domestic violence and lead the lives they envision for themselves and their children.

The funds raised through the #OperationGirl Charity Challenge will be used to support and expand the following Jenesse Center programs that are specifically focused on the mental and emotional health of the women and girls receiving services: Jenesse Mothers and Children (“JMAC”) program, Jenesse Life and Style Fashion Center (“Style Center”), BeSo YOU!, Jenesse Teen Angels, Girl Talk-Youth Conversations.

To make a donation, go to the website https://www.crowdrise.com/JenesseCenter-OperationGirl, and follow the directions to submit a donation of your choice.